Suits
by Sabreth
Summary: For those of you who have read this already, I am currently doing final editing, and when I'm done, it'll be up!
1. The Mission

Chapter 1  
  
Walking into the maintenance bay the only sound to be heard was the sound of a ratchet turning a bolt into place. Looking around trying to figure out where the sound originated from, General Sean O'riley casually scratched an itch behind his ear.  
Standing at six foot being one hundred eighty pounds, Sean was a skinny but muscular person. Atop his head sat red curly hair cut to military standards; despite the style of cut the curls could never be tamed. With an oval face and blue eyes the image of this man was that of a matured child, always an easy set expression upon his face people were generally comfortable around him.  
The ratchet stopped and before any other sound could be made O'riley bellowed, "Captain Rail, a moment of your time, I have new orders for you."  
At that a head with a buzz cut of brown hair appeared out from the cockpit, brown eyes showing signs of fatigue. Despite being weary the eyes sparkled none-the-less with a fierce fire of passion and intelligence. "I'll be right down Sir, just lemme secure a panel up here real quick." With that the head disappeared back into the cockpit. The sound of metal scraping against metal; then a snap and click echoed into the maintenance bay.  
A wire with a triangle at its end and another situated six feet above it was tossed from the cockpit. This time emerging with the head came a lithe body, which placed a booted foot on the lower triangle. Hands with long fingers wrapped firmly around the upper triangle, the thumb twitched ever so slightly to press a button. The whirring sound of a winch trickled into the bay, lowering Captain John Rail to the floor.  
General O'riley stepped forward, boots echoing off the hard concrete floor. "You have a mission. With Major Holl and an assault team you are to destroy several targets. The exact details you will receive en-route on the transport."  
Saluting with Military precision Captain Rail replied with a simple and crisp, "Sir!"  
Returning the salute General O'riley turned to leave, but looked over his and said, "Make sure to tell Major Holl when he gets here." And with that he left the maintenance bay, boots sounding off with every step that led him out the door.  
Grasping the upper triangle and placing his foot on the lower, Rail's thumb brushed the button, reactivating the winch to pull him back up into the cockpit to return to his work. Picking up a screwdriver and his ratchet he ducked into the cockpit and began on the next instrument needing adjustments.  
  
Working steadily for a half an hour Rail didn't stop when another winch in the bay started to whir.  
"Your late, the General was here a little while ago to give us orders. Where the hell have you been by the way?"  
Acrobatically Holl swung over to the platform Rail was working from and flashed him a cheesy grin, blue-green eyes ablaze with excitement. Holl stood at Six feet tall, same as O'riley and Rail, but had the more considerable muscle and strength. Weighing in at two hundred ten pounds Holl was a large man, almost too large to be a pilot. His wavy brown hair was unkempt, pushing the regulations. Oval shaped face with high set cheekbones and a kind jaw, matching the soft feel of his eyes.  
"Just came from talking with the Colonel. Gave me an assignment." Holl replied.  
"Yeah, well the General gave us a mission to complete, we need to get prepared and loaded A.S.A.P." Rail coffed.  
"I talked the Colonel into getting you in on this assignment too. Wasn't the easiest thing in the world to do after the little stunt you pulled on that one mission."  
"Hey my Comm was damaged, I never heard any orders." Quipped Rail.  
"Yeah still that stunt lost you a rank. So you want in on this mission or not?"  
"What's in it for me? I'm already assigned lead on the Mission. That's good enough for me."  
"Think of it as points back to your old rank." Holl tempted.  
Rail was silent as pressed on his wrench, rotating a bolt into place.  
"Be like old times, you, me, and the Enemy." Holl further pressed.  
"Fine, I'm in. So what's this big old scary mission the Colonels got cooked up for us this time." Rail asked.  
"Details will be given to us en-route, while the others are getting theirs. Now's the time to back out, cause as soon as we get the details we are one hundred percent committed. The only alternative is public punishment for a week.and another reduction in rank if we refuse." Holl warned.  
"Alright, I'm in. Just as long as I get to fight." Rail sighed.  
At the utterance of those words the Enclave's display's lit up with a dragon and the word "FIGHT" printed underneath it.  
Six stories tall and five tons of metals and alloys the Enclave was a sight to behold. A machine made to look like a man, function like a man and think as a man as a war machine. Problems with the Artificial Intelligence in the machine, dubbed a suit, had forced changed to the design to include a human pilot. The AI was then revamped to instead of fully function augment a pilots abilities. This AI was so sophisticated that it was only implemented in the special suits named Diamonds. Diamond suits were named thus due to their armor, a Titanium-Diamond alloy, thought to be the strongest material on the face of the planet.  
The Enclave's arsenal consisted of a Beam Sword that when activated looked like a Samurai sword. Infamous this sword has become due to the fact that it was a fluke. Hidden within its shoulders sat twin high velocity Vulcan Cannons. To drive this immense technological marvel was a fusion power plant. Incredibly stable but highly potent a self-destruct mechanism was wired to the power plant in case such a situation required it.  
The Enclave was not the only one of it's kind, its bother in arms being the Hells Sabre. Lighter, faster the Hells Sabre was better suited for long range combat, although in its weapons compliment it carried two Identical Beam Sabre's, more thin and more powerful than a standard Beam sword. Like the Enclave the Hells Sabre hid within its shoulders twin high velocity Vulcan Cannons. Also, since the Hells Sabre lacked the power that the Enclave had it also carried an Uzi like pistol. Although it was a Diamond suit, the AI was different from that of the Enclave's in the fact that it does more than augment a Pilots ability.  
With the two pilots together in their respective suits many considered them an Unstoppable force of God leased upon the lands to end this war..or so it would be if they weren't in the Global Government's Armed Forces. 


	2. The Base

After an unbelievable amount of traps and mines, the unit finally made it to the base.  
"Squad two, taker the north side. Squad three, south side. Four, west side, and five, east side. Six take the entrance. T.J., since the entrance is pretty much secure, go set your explosives."  
"Boom, I get to make things go BOOM now?"  
"Yes, you get to make things go boom now, T.J."  
"YAY, I GETTO GO BOOM BOOM!"  
"Sir, requesting permission to abandon suit and take a fully operational enemy heavy suit."  
"Permission granted, Premo. Just make sure your suits self destructs when the rest of the base goes up in flames, got it?"  
"Got it sir, thanks."  
With every thing set into motion, Nick set his scanners to max hoping to catch the enemy reinforcements in advance when they come. Nick felt a small explosion ripple throughout the complex.  
"Oops," T.J. quickly said.  
Chuckling to herself, Jenelle found the suit hangers. Leaving her suit outside, she crept inside. Once inside, she saw some Tec's working on a suit. Taking her pistol, she picked them off, one by one.  
"I'm glad Jesse showed me how to pick off a target from concealment." She said casually as she walked among the dead bodies. Looking around the bodies, she saw one wearing a solders uniform.  
"Strange, I don't remember shooting her, oh well, I'll plant a few more into her to be sure." Upon hearing that, the body jumped up and surrendered. Jenelle shot her anyway.  
Climbing up the front of the suit the technicians were working on. Upon reaching the cockpit, Jenelle saw what they were doing. Inside the cockpit, the consoles were torn apart and rewired to the self-destruct mechanism. Also, there were other small explosive devices that were lining the panels.  
Seeing that this suit was hopelessly lost, she moved on to the next suit. There she found it to be virtually untouched. Carefully, she examined under the consoles to make sure it has not been messed with either. Deciding that this suit was suitable for her-and safe-she got it up and running. Checking the meters and other dependents, she was glad that every thing was full.  
  
Sitting in front of a bloody computer console, Nick was busy downloading the bases entire database into many Jazz disks. While the computer was busy downloading the information, he went through the file cabinets and desks in the office. In one file cabinet, he found some porno mags and vids in which he quickly stuffed into his jacket.  
Walking over to the console, he saw that the download was almost complete. Instead of going through more stuff, he went to the window to check on things. He saw a large enemy suit emerge from a hanger, and walk towards the office in which he now stood. Over his radio, he heard Jenelle call for him.  
"Nick here, how's the new suit, Premo?"  
"It's alright, it's maxed out and ready to go, but not like my old one. While I was in there, I encountered a group of Tec's that were sabotaging a suit. Don't worry, they're all dead."  
"Did it ever occur to you that maybe we could use a tech?"  
"Sir, seeing them sabotage a suit and all carrying M-16's, I wasn't about to take prisoners."  
"We'll talk about it later, T.J.'s almost done setting everything."  
Yet another small explosion rattled the base.  
"Sorry about that, the doors to the power generators were locked, so I blew them open, I'm fine every one! YEAH BABY YEAH!! IT WENT BOOM! He he he, oh, it's still on, oops, sorry!" CLICK.  
"How did some one like that get into the military?" Asked Jenelle.  
"I don't know, I'm not a friggin' recruiter ya know!" Nick replied.  
The console in which Nick was working at started to beep. Looking over there he saw that the download was complete. Also he saw that the program in which he got from Jesse found some hidden stuff, including a self-destruct sequence.  
"T.J., as soon as your done, get to the main office, I need you to check something out, you too Jenelle."  
"BOOM! I GETTO MAKE THINGS GO BOOM! Alright Cap'n, be there in ten."  
"On my way, Nick."  
  
"To me, someone has to be here when it goes off. This was set up for a last resort kinda thing, ya know, last person, almost dead anyway kinda thing." T.J. explained.  
"I must agree with him Nick, all evidence does seem to point to that conclusion."  
"I will agree with the both of you, we need a volunteered for this, though. But who?" Asked Nick.  
"How about we get the unit together and see what they say?" asked Jenelle, thinking about being the one to do it.  
"Well, it'd be better than doing it over the radios."  
  
"So that's our situation. Any volunteers?" Nick bellowed to his subordinates.  
Not a hand raised or a voice heard. Some one coughed in the background and a stale wind blew through the assembled solders. Finally a voice broke the silence, "I will," she said.  
"Jenelle?!?" Nick asked in confused surprise.  
"Obviously no one else is volunteering." She snapped.  
"Alright then, it's settled. T.J., is everything set?"  
"Yes sir, all wired to my BOOM MACHINE HEE HEE HEE!"  
"Riiigghht, EVERYONE TO THIER SUITS!!"  
Without further pressuring them, they scrambled to their suits.  
"Jau, I hope you know what you are doing."  
"I do," she replied in a low voice.  
"But before you go....."  
"But w-" Jenelle was cut off by Nick who leaned in and gave her a long passionate kiss. Flustered, she stepped back.  
"NICK!!!" She exclaimed. Before either of them could say anything, she ran to the office.  
Inside, she sat down and waited for Nick to give her the confirmation that every one was out and clear. As she was sitting there, twisting the chair back and forth, some one snuck up behind her and grabbed her mouth and put his arm around her neck.  
"It's unfair that one of such beauty and character should die like this. I'd hate to see Jesse so distraught over your death."  
Finally she recognized the voice; it was Virgil, an intelligence agent. What was he doing here? She thought. And what did he mean about Jesse, since he's in intel, he should know that Jesse's dead.  
Jenelle didn't have long to ponder about this for Virgil slipped a cloth over her face that made her faint.  



	3. Intervention

Standing on a ridge near the base, Nick was waiting for the last suit to get into place.  
"Sir!! What's that coming this way?" Mike asked, indicating a large object walking towards them.  
"I dunno, Mike, but you all stay here while I go check it out."  
When he finally caught up to it, he realized that it was the suit that Jenelle had chosen. Then he saw that the cockpit was open, and sitting in the pilot's seat strapped in was Jenelle.  
"What the Hell?!?" Nick exclaimed. On a whim, he radioed the office, "Deuce to whoever is on the base, what did you do with our solder and what are you planning on doing?" He demanded.  
"Nick, ya remember me? It's me, Virgil. I'm doing a favor for a friend, now when do you want me to press the button?"  
"Virgil, T.J., one my mark, go ahead and blow this place sky high!"  
Once back up on the ridge, Nick ordered the base to 'disappear'. "This is the way we blow things up, blow things up, blow things up! This is the way we blow things up, all day loooooooong!" Sang T.J.  
"Man, that guy's crazy!" Mike commented.  
"Wha- what happened? Oh my god, Virgil, VIRGILLLLLL!!! What have you done, why did you do this? WHYYY!!" Jenelle screamed as tears ran down her eyes.  
"He saved your life, Premo, that's what he did and why he did it."  
Closing the cockpit door, Jenelle sat there silently, watching the base burn to the ground.  
"It's burinin', it's burnin', the old man's a fartin'!! BOOM! Ha ha, BANG, he he, BOOOMMM ha ha ha, he he he. I love it when things go BOOM! Like my BOOM machine Nick?" T.J. ranted.  
From out of no where, a missile soared through the air and slammed into Nick's suit, leaving behind a pile of debris.  
"Enemy suits, this is Aaron Werely piloting Lithium. Surrender now or die."  
  
"Nick!! Aaron, you BASTARD, how could you?" yelled an extremely angered Jenelle.  
He had some Intelligence on us, so he had to die; besides, he got my porn." Aaron replied eerily calmly.  
"HEY, I'M THE ONE TO MAKE THINGS GO BOOM!! NOW IT'S TIME FOR YOU TO TAKE A LOOOONG DIRT NAP!!" T.J. interrupted with a stern voice.  
"Well excuse me, Mi-st-er smarty pants, but I doubt that you could blow anything up as well as I can!"  
"Well, we'll see about that..." Moving forward, T.J. brought out his SPECIAL variation of Napalm.  
"Let's see if your armor can handle this!" He screamed as he threw the Napalm at the Lithium.  
Before the Napalm left T.J.'s arm, Mike commented, "Wow, he spoke normal for once."  
Seeing such a slow object flying through the air, Aaron decided to catch it, reaching out his right arm, he thought he caught it, but instead of a solid THUNK, he heard the sound of breaking glass and liquid flying all over the place. Alarms began to sound and a damage report scrolled across his screen to the right of him:  
WARNING: RIGHT ARM SEVERELY DAMAGED OR MISSING  
ARM NOT RESPONDING  
  
"What the HELL was that?" Aaron cried out in alarm.  
"That was Napalm that was chemically altered to react to Titanium/diamond alloy, much like the armor covering the Hell's Dagger, Enclave, and obviously the Lithium. BURN BABY BURN!!"  
"Bu-but-"  
While Aaron was puzzling this, Jenelle ran over to the Lithium and severed the left arm off from the elbow down.   
"HEY! NOW I'M ANGRY, NOW YOU'RE GOING TO PAY WITH YOUR LIVES!" Without even thinking, Aaron kicked the suit beside him, knocking her down, and emptied his Vulcan's at T.J., only to slightly damage his suit.  
Standing back up-with the severed appendage in her grip, Jenelle started to beat the Lithium with it, knocking off the buster rifle strapped to it's back severely damaging it.  
Watching Jenelle beat Aaron with his suit's own arm, T.J. self bypassed damaged systems and went over and started to beat the Lithium too.  
Really pissed off now, Aaron somehow managed to trip Jenelle, he warded off T.J. with concussion grenades made for human use, and ran over to the fallen Jenelle and started to kick her.  
"IIIEEEEEEE BAKA BAKA BOOOOM BAKA BOOM BOOM!" screamed T.J. rushing in and body slamming the Lithium, knocking it over.  
"Wha- power draining, no weaponry, I'm outta here!" With that, the Lithium's jets roared to life lifting the Lithium into the air. Slightly bent wings popped out from the back and carried the barely functioning suit into the dusk.  
"Hey hey, looky looky, I got a new gun!" exclaimed Mike. "Hmm, it looks like there is room for a power amplifier, AND a gattling ability."  
Walking over to Jenelle, T.J. helped her get her suit up. "How's your suit, T.J.?"  
"It didn't go boom, but his suit almost diiiiiid." T.J. said in a childish tone.  
"Jenelle, seeing how Caleb, Jesse, and Nick are all dead, that means your in charge. Permission to fix this weapon, Ma'am?" Mike asked, with hope in his voice.  
"Yeah, let him make something go BOOOMMM!" T.J. chimed in.  
"Hmm, Permission granted, as soon as we set up camp, from what I can remember, there should be a well hidden clearing ten kilometers east of here."  



	4. New Orders

"Jenelle, Jenelle, wake up! WAKE UP!" Stephanie said.  
"Wh-what do you want? I'm tying to sleep," replied a half awake and annoyed Jenelle.  
"I just got an encoded message from intel, the General is coming out to take over and lead the mission. He wants to see it finished-right."  
Fully awake now, Jenelle sat up in bed and exclaimed, "WHAT?!? He's coming out here? Is he using a suit?"  
"Well, about that, you see, he-"  
"He what?" Jenelle interrupted.  
"He wants to pilot your suit that you stole." Stephanie said sheepishly.  
"Get the General on the comm., if not him. Then someone who CAN talk to him. Tell them to give him his own suit, you need me on this mission IN A GOD DAMN SUIT!" Jenelle demanded.  
"Yes Ma'am!" Stephanie saluted and left.  
After an undeterminable amount of time, Stephanie came back and looked pale.  
"I got a hold of the General, he said, 'I know how she feels, so she can have her suit, I'll take one of the new recruits suits for this mission.'"  
"Thank you, when's his ETA?"  
"Oh four hundred."  
"O.k., that works, under night time conditions, too bad Nick's suit had to be destroyed, with the advanced sensors and all."  
  
"General, nice to see you again!" Jenelle greeted Bryan.  
"Yes, you may dispense with the pleasantries, Private."  
On the inside, Jenelle was thinking, 'Why are you here you over protective bitch?'  
"General, here's our status report, and my report to this point, but there is one thing that I did not include, if you will follow me please, I have something to show you."  
Walking away from the designated landing area, Jenelle led Bryan through various suits, tents, and heaters. After passing though the whole camp she led him through the dense forest to another clearing taken up by another tent.  
Inside the tent she was greeted by Mike.  
"General, this is Mike, you should know him, currently the best tech in our military."  
"Yes, Mike, it has been a while, how have you been?"  
"I'm fine, and you, General?" replied Mike.  
"Never been better. What is the machine you are working on this morning? I hope you didn't get it from us." Bryan asked jokingly.  
"Well, this is the buster rifle from the Lithium. In the battle between Jenelle, T.J. and the pilot of the Lithium, Aaron Werely, Jenelle knocked off this rifle, damaging it severely. You know me, I love to tinker with things, upgrading them, fixing them, tuning them, etc. Well, that is what I am doing, fixing, upgrading and tuning this weapon."  
"What exactly are you doing to this rifle, Mike? From first glance, it looks like your rigging it to explode."  
While the General was talking, T.J. comes up and asks, "Did somebody say EXPLODE? Can I make something go boom again? PLeeeaaaasssse?" he whined.  
"Not right now, T.J. General, I'm going to leave you here to talk to Mike and T.J. while I wake up the rest of the camp, were planning to move out at oh six thirty."  
"You're going leave me here alone with THESE guys?!?" Bryan exclaimed.  
Before Bryan could make any more orders, Jenelle ducked out of the tent and headed back to the camp. On the way, she felt like she was being watched, but wasn't sure. With out altering her pace, she called out, "Who goes where?"  
Only silence answered.  
Upon reaching the edge of the trees, she thought she heard the signature low pitched growl of Jesse, "Baka baka baka."  
"Jesse, is that you?" she cautiously asked.  
"Baka baka baka," someone growled back.  
'He's dead, he's gone, it's only my imagination...' she thought. 'But, there wasn't that much debris left over from the explosion, could he have survived that? No, all we saw was debris no bigger than a human falling, all inorganic.'  
Reaching one of the makeshift quarters, she ducked inside and bellowed out, "Now all of you shits get up, Wren, you go wake up the rest of the camp. I'll be in my tent."  
Upon entering her tent, she lay down upon her cot and immediately fell asleep.  
  
"Wow, it's light!" Jenelle exclaimed.  
"I removed a lot of the redundant systems, so if it gets slightly damaged, it may not work. But it does have a high rate of powerful fire, rivaling that of the Enclave." Replied Mike with pride.  
It was mid-morning and Jenelle just got her suit back-with the "New and Improved" buster gattling rifle that was knocked off of the Lithium. Everyone was in formation and almost ready to move out, all that was left was that Bryan had to issue orders for the rest of the mission.  
"This is Cody Duff, the enemy's assassin. He is supposed to be out here hunting us down as we speak. He's piloting a heavy attack suit, armed with mini nukes, many missiles, and eight Vulcan cannons ranging in caliber."  
"Will I be able to make him go BOOOM?" T.J. inquired.  
"Sure, what ever you want to do to him, T.J., go ahead." Jenelle said.  
Not really liking the fact that his subordinate was giving permission, Bryan was about to say something but let it go. After a few more minutes of showing another installation that there were to take out, Bryan gave the order to move out.  
"Sir, when we get there, is it alright if I let T.J. use some of his explosives the remove the base from the face of the earth?"  
"Sure, I see he's eager-as usual-to blow something up."  
"Ya really mean that you'll let me do more BOOM BOOM?" T.J. interjected.  
"Yes, but that isn't until I give the order," Bryan allowed, stressing the 'I'.  
"Woo HOOOOOOOOO!"  
"But-"  
"I said woo hoo." T.J. interrupted.  
  
Within several hours of leaving camp, they reach the security zone for the next outpost.  
"There were twenty suits guarding this base; that was until the other base was destroyed. Now there are eighty suits guarding this base."  
"Wow, that's four times as much!" exclaimed solder.  
"T.J., it is up to you to get in while the rest of us distract the suits. Your job is to use everything you got to destroy this base, make it big because this very well may be your last explosion." Bryan informed with a solemn voice.  
"T.J. make things go BOOM, big BOOM BOOM!!" obviously, T.J. was ecstatic about making an extremely large explosion. "REALLY BIG BOOM! This place is going to go BOOM so BIG, there will be nothin' left of anything within the eight kilometer BLAST radius!"  
"Great, give a psychotic explosives expert a centimeter, and he takes what ever you got left." Mike chimed in.  
"Jenelle, Mike, you're with me, we're squad one. Two squads pair up each, two and three, four and five, squad six, since T.J.'s doing some thing else, your with us."  
"Yes sir," Jamie Wren replied.  
"Yes sir!" All the other solders confirmed.  



	5. The Battle Begins

"T.J., the battle's started, now get in there, and be careful!" Bryan ordered. Secretly, he knew that T.J. would not survive. Cringing from the thought of his subordinate dying, he channeled it into concentration and used it to aid him in battle.  
"Jenelle, see that satellite dish?"  
"Ya, I see it," she replied, finishing off three suits in one sweep.  
"Your gun should be able to penetrate that armor, take it out, that'll prevent them from sounding the alarm."  
"Got it." She confirmed. Without taking too much time to aim, she ripped the dish into shreds. Turning, she saw a few flashes of light, and a suit that was heading towards her immediately blew up.  
"Thanks, General."  
"Just watching your back." Bryan said.  
  
"I am crafty, I am quick, I am sly, I'm kind of...uh...BOOM! HE he he." T.J. hummed to him self. "There's the main power plant, ooh, it'll make a great BIG boom." He observed.  
  
Concentrating on the group of the suits in front of her, she didn't notice the explosions that lined the courtyard with craters. Jumping to the left to avoid a missile, she blasted the former owner of the missile into nothingness.  
Finally feeling the concussions of another few volley's of missiles, she turns to see what it was and gasps in horror for fighting side by side were a Heavy Attack suit and pieced together Lithium.  
  
"Bryan, Mike, they're here!" Screamed Jenelle.  
"I see them, Jenelle. Mike, how much longer can Jenelle's gun hold up?"  
"I don't know, sir, I wasn't able to test it at all, it could go out now. Or hours later."  
"Jenelle, empty your gun into the Lithium."  
"Got it." She replied. Drawing a bead on the Lithium, she didn't let go of the trigger until there was nothing left in the gun.  
"Empty, damn." Jenelle commented as she threw the gun at the hulk of the Lithium, which surprisingly still was moving.  
She didn't notice it until he threw it down that he had a shield, now just a smoking pile of metal. She waited until Aaron had fully drawn his beam sword before she attacked  
"Now that we both have no guns, I'll rip you to shreds!" Aaron yelled as he charged her.  
"Over my dead body!" was all Jenelle said.  
"No Jenelle, don't!! Bryan yelled as he grabbed air trying vainly to grab Jenelle's suit.  
  
"I've got a lovely bunch of mushroom clouds,  
Deedle-Eee-Dee-Dee!  
There they are a-blowin' sumthin' up!  
Big bombs, small bombs, some will blow up your head!"  
T.J. sang as he finished setting a set of bombs. Moving on to set up some more; he was oblivious to an enemy suit watching him.  
  
"DIE YOU BASTARD!" Jenelle exclaimed as she un-sheathed and activated her beam sword. Swinging for a shot to the head, she feinted and instead went for a leg. Aaron being an advanced pilot saw this feint and was able to dodge and block with practiced ease.  
Making a quick thrust to the abdomen himself, he was surprised at the skill in which Jenelle had when it came to suit fighting. After being parried by Jenelle, he blocked a shot for the head and managed to kick Jenelle's suit in the side.  
Keeping her balance, she kept fending off each powerful swing made by Aaron. Dodging another thrust, she grabbed the outstretched arm of the Lithium now at her side, spun around and elbowed it in the head.  
With the gong like sound still ringing in his ears, he fell forward. Catching himself with his free hand, he activated his jets and flew ahead about fifty yards. Using the vector controlled thrust, he was able to right himself.  
Not waiting for Aaron to regain his poseur, Jenelle jumped forward aiming for the Lithium's back, missing as it rolled to the side and stood, facing her right side.  
  
"I am Cody Duff, assassin sent to destroy you." He announced to the two suits that weren't fighting.  
"I am General Bryan McCann, and you are in violation of our laws, and I will either arrest you or destroy you!"  
Paying no heed to such a pitiful threat, Cody launched a couple of missiles.  
Seeing such a relatively slow but destructive attack, he brought his gun to bear and picked off the missiles. "You're going to have to do better than that, assassin scum!" Bryan yelled.  
  
Watching as the General and Jenelle were too busy to see enemy suits converging on their location, Mike took it upon himself to cover them. "I knew that the power conserver would come in handy." He commented sarcastically. With almost sniper accurate shots, Mike picked off several suits that were coming IN from the eastern gate.  
  
"Atomic Bombs, Atomic Bombs,  
T-N-T, T-N-T!  
I will make a big BOOM!  
And blow you to your doom!  
Don't anger me!  
Don't anger me!"  
T.J. chanted, now fighting the enemy suit that was following him. Using grenades, he was glad that they weren't around the explosives he just set. The one thing that he didn't like, though, was the fact that they were fighting under ground in such a limited amount of room. Glad that the grenades almost crippled the suit, he drew his beam sword and walked over to where it had fallen.  
"I've always wanted to dissect an enemy suit, I'm going to enjoy this..." He said evilly.  



	6. The Raging Battle

Using her jets, she charged the Lithium, vainly trying to end this battle. Feinting her charge, Jenelle rocketed into the sky. Looking back, she saw that Aaron was following her. This now was an arial battle.  
Turning to face him, she was in time to dodge and block a shot to the mid-section of her suit. Shooting past her, Aaron cut his engines to fall back down with his beam sword held out in front of him.  
Dodging quickly, Jenelle desperately swiped at the outstretched arms, only to cut air instead.  
  
With only mini nuke left, Cody didn't want to use them on his employer's base. "You fight well, for someone who's come from the hell hole you came from." Cody taunted.  
"And you aren't to bad your self" Bryan replied, parrying a swing for the mid section. Slicing down from the right, Bryan's swing was stopped by Cody. Neither of them were willing to make a move. Now locked in a sword to sword embrace, they taunted each other.  
  
Ejecting his third clip, Mike pulled another to snap in behind the barrel. "Where are they all coming from? I blast one, and two take its place. I've gotta find out where these reinforcements are coming from because there are more than eighty suits here!" Slowly, he crept towards the gate, trying not to get noticed. Now able to see outside the gate, Mike saw that there were transports unloading more suits. "Shit, IT'S A TRAP!" Mike screamed over the intercom. Mike turned and ran to the nearest building. Looking up he saw a small structure that provides excellent shielding to pick off the transports. Jumping up there, he now saw how many there were. He counted twenty transports, all unloading enemy suits. With ease, Mike picked off three transports before they knew what hit them. By the time they had figured out what was going on, Mike destroyed two more and severely damaged another.  
"Everyone, this is Mike, East entrance there are transports unloading more suits, requesting backup! I repeat, east entrance there are enemy suits coming into the compound, requesting- AHHHHHHGGGGGGG!"  
  
"Mike, NOOO!" Jenelle exclaimed. Hearing the end of her friend sent Jenelle into a rage that could almost match the one she felt for the loss of her love. Parrying quick hit and holding it, she punched the Lithium in the side repeatedly until it backed up several steps.  
Reeling from the attack, Aaron stabilized himself and hovered waiting for the next attack from his opponent. "Ya know, you're almost good enough to be a Diamond pilot."  
"I don't care about how good I am, I only care that you DIE!" was Jenelle replied. Checking her jet fuel level, she saw she was almost empty and decided to land.  
  
Concentrating hard, Cody was delighted to finally fight someone who was almost his equal-or so he thought. Making a small mistake by blocking with both arms, and holding it there, he didn't see that Bryan had another beam sword in his other hand.  
"And now, since you resisted arrest, your penalty is death." Bryan said with finality as he plunged the free sword into the cockpit of the suit. Pulling it out and stepping back, he could see that the bottom of his blade had just barely clipped Cody's head off, leaving a burnt stump.  
  
"My name is Boom, James Boom. There, alllllll the EXPLOSIVES are SET and ready to go BOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM HA HA HA!" Said T.J. "Now where the HELL is that door I came through? Was it this way?"  
  
When she touched down, Jenelle saw that she landed in front of several enemy suits, two in which were fighting with Stephanie. The third was watching the battle rage on. It saw her almost immediately and started to move forward to engage her, then stopped and took several steps back.  
Puzzled by the suits action, Jenelle didn't react fast enough to Aaron dropping down right behind her and kicking her suit in the head, sending her flying forward and landing right in front of the other suit.  
Trying to stand up, the Lithium stomped on her back, sending the suit down to the ground and pinning it there.  
  
"Oh no, not this time..." Stephanie thought, charging past the suits she was fighting and body slamming the Lithium, almost knocking it over.  
That's all Jenelle needed to get up. With a quick push up, Jenelle was upright and ready to fight again.  
"Thanks Stephanie, I though that was it for me!"  
"Your welcome, but Aaron's pretty pissed now, so you should come here and help me?"  
  
"I knew I should have taken that left turn at the kitchen, or was it the right?" T.J. pondered as he searched for the exit.  
  
"Fifteen transports, all surrounded by suits, still coming through the gate, I like these odds, but, I may as well help Jenelle. Falcons, converge at the east gate, eliminate all enemy suits." Bryan ordered. "I hope that they get here soon, were getting our asses kicked." Bryan said to himself.  
Still holding on to both of his beam swords, Bryan marched into the group of enemy suits, slowly working his way to the transports. Dodging a few shots from a rifle, slashing another suit, block another suits sword, Bryan relentlessly fought without showing any signs of letting up. He was glad that there were so many suits in a small area for they would not fire much afraid to hit a comrade.  



	7. The End of Jenelle?

  
"Jenelle! HELP ME!" Stephanie screamed as Aaron lifted her suit off the ground by the neck and started to strangle it.  
Hearing the squeaking of metal, and rivets popping, Stephanie was afraid that she may die here and now.  
Rushing to her friends' aid, Jenelle swatted a quick punch from the Lithium and quickly sliced at the head.  
Ducking real quickly, Aaron was relieved when only the scalp was taken off. Dropping the suit he had locked in a death grip, Aaron jabbed Jenelle's suit's arm.  
Jumping backward, Jenelle hoping that Aaron would follow her. When she landed, she looked back at the Lithium as it just stood there, watching her, unmoving as if taunting her to attack. Breathing heavily, chest heaving with each breath, Jenelle was helpless as Aaron threw a second beam sword at Stephanie. Buzzing past her, Stephanie was able to duck the swirling blade.  
Jenelle just stood there, grateful that Aaron had missed. Returning her attention to the Lithium, the other sword stabbed into her suit's head, knocking her onto her back.  
  
"Jenelle!" Bryan yelled. Summoning some hidden strength within him, Bryan parried a thrust, used the momentum of the block to swing around real quickly and slice through the mid section from side to side. He spun, kicked a suit, and then used his forward motion to stab the suit in the cockpit. He then jumped past that and into another suit, catching it off guard.  
When he landed, his suit was swept off its feet by an enemy suit. Landing with one hand, he sprung off of it, used his jets to help control his flip, and slammed into two other suits, knocking them both over, crippling them. Before he completely balanced himself, the suit that knocked him over had caught up to him and grabbed one of his arms. Switching hands, he used the beam sword to lop off the other suit's arms.  
  
Now standing over her, the Lithium looked huge. Jenelle watched as Aaron pulled the saber out of the head unit. Pointing it at the waist, Aaron slowly pushed the sword in, killing the drive mechanisms for the lower part of the body. Then he proceeded to slice the arms off at the shoulder. Jenelle winced as the snaps and pops of the sword slicing though the metal rang throughout the cockpit.  
"Man, this is the end for me," she bitterly thought, "I have failed to get revenge for you, my love."  
Having one screen still operational, which focused on the Lithium, Jenelle watched as the tip of the sword was placed on the door to the cockpit. One thing she noticed before the green aura filled the screen was a faint small red dot in the center of the Lithium's chest.  
  
Climbing out of her cockpit, Stephanie was helpless to stop Aaron. She was sickened to the core of her soul to stand by and watch, as her friend was about to die.  
In an instant, there was a powerful green beam ripping through the air, right through the Lithium. Stephanie was blown away by the massive concussion wave the beam generated.  
  
Standing a hundred or so yards from the beam, Bryan was swept away along with all the other suits from its concussion wave. Now pinned against the wall by the awesome force, he could feel the hairs on his body start to stand on end from the intense energy made by the beam.  
  
In her cockpit, Jenelle thought that the sword had plunged through the door, almost incinerating her. Trying to protect her face with her arms, Jenelle could feel her skin peel and burn from the intense beam that was directly over her. Barely able to breathe, she heard the creaking and groaning of metal as it melted and started to rip away.  



	8. Visitors from the Grave

Stepping away from the wall, Bryan was spellbound by what he had just witnessed. Forgetting about the enemy suits, Bryan ran over to Jenelle's suit and haphazardly ripped the still superheated metal away. Peering inside, he was relieved to see that she was still alive, but barely.  
Hearing several explosions behind him, Bryan turned to see whom it was that just saved them. Stepping through the flames triumphantly was the Enclave holding it's infamous samurai like beam sword in it's left hand, and a grossly huge beam cannon in it's right.  
"THE GOD OF DEATH HAS RETURNED FROM HELL!" Rang through out the battle zone. Dropping the cannon, the Enclave rocketed into a cluster of suits, blazing by them and out if the gate to the gates. The suits that it flew by exploded in brilliant flashes of light.  
On the other side, several buildings slid in half diagonally, then crumbled. As the dust was settling, Bryan was able to make out the ever so familiar form of the Hell's Dagger standing there, brandishing it's two long crooked daggers.  
"I hope we're not to late, hope we didn't miss out on anything important." Said the familiar voice of Caleb.  
The Hell's Dagger turned and sprinted off, to aid the rest of the company in taking care of the enemy.  
Bryan looked down to see Jenelle crying with a smile on her face.  
"Jesse's back, right? He's here, with us, helping us?"  
"Yes, yes he is, Jenelle." Bryan told her in a reassuring voice.  
  
Slicing through the transports with ease, Jesse was happy to finally see some action.  
"These guys are just pathetic, can't even defend their own base properly." He thought to himself. At the last transport, he stopped briefly to look around. In a few seconds, he felt a small bump and heard a bullet ricochet off of his armor. Turning, he saw that a lone suit had fired on him.  
"DIE MOTHER FUCKER!" Jesse yelled as he rocketed towards the enemy suit. Turning tail to run, the enemy suit was too slow for the superior speed of the Enclave. Stopping a few yards ahead, Jesse watched as the suit hit the ground.  
"May you rest in pieces, he he he."  
  
"Ha ha! There's the exit, now to give the BOOM trigger to Bryan. BOOM, he he, BOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM!!! Boom." T.J. was happy to get out from under ground, but when he stepped out of the garage, he was amazed to see a trench several thousand yards long and the width was enough to fit a suit head to toe into.  
"Some body made a REALLY BIG BOOM! MY EXPLOSION IS GOING TO MAKE THIS, THIS, TRENCH LOOK LIKE A SCRATCH!"  
  
"Falcons, this is the Hell's Dagger, fall back, I repeat, fall back. I'll take it from here on out."  
"Yes sir!" Came several replies. Now that all his comrades were out of the way, Caleb could let loose, like him and Jesse's been wanting to do for a while now.  
Drawing his jagged dagger, Caleb lunged past a line of suits, all exploding after his pass. Jumping over some rubble, Caleb came down upon three more suits. Landing in between them all, he quickly sliced to the left, then to the right, then stabbed backwards into the suit behind him. All this happened in a matter of seconds.  
Pressing on, he was met by much opposition, opposition that was too afraid to fight. In a blink of an eye, three suits blew up, in another instant another joined them. Stabbing a suit in the cockpit, Caleb didn't pull out, but lifted up instead. Holding the suit-on-a-dagger above his head with his right hand, Caleb pulled out a small pistol and quickly shot a suit running at him.  
Rounding a corner with the suit still held up high, Caleb threw it at the last suit in the general area. Flying through the air, Caleb instantaneously rocketed forward with his dagger held at his side, and sliced through it with ease. Taking a quick step to the side, the suit he had thrown landed with a heavy THUD.  



	9. A New Enemy

"Bryan, everything's clear here," Caleb reported in.  
"Same here," came Jesse's voice.  
"Alright, Falcons, converge on my location, we'll work from there." Bryan ordered.   
  
Stepping off of the winch, Jesse was greeted by a swab of solders coming to see if it was really him.  
"Is it really you?"  
"I thought you were dead!"  
"Where've ya been?"  
"Alright, alright, I'll tell you guys later, right now I have to go see somebody." Jesse said as he pressed on, over to where Bryan's suit is still hunched over Jenelle's.  
  
Looking up, the swab of solders saw that Caleb had come back. Stepping off of his winch, he was greeted much the same as Jesse was.  
"Thanks for saving our butts back there."  
"We thought you're dead."  
"Why did you do what you did?"  
"Lemme talk with the General first, then I'll talk to you later!" Caleb said as he, too, walked over to Bryan's suit.  
  
"Y-your alive! I-I-I thought y-you were d-dead." Jenelle struggled to say.  
"ME, DIE? Never, remember, I'm not going to be allowed into heaven, and-"  
"And the Devil d-doesn't w-w-w-want any c-c-competition!" She smiled.  
"Hey guys, what's up?" Caleb strolled in casually. "Ooh, you don't look so well, Jenelle, you need to be with your boy toy, so I'll go, by the way, where's Bryan?"  
Both Jesse and Jenelle pointed to where Bryan's suit stood.  
"Thanks." Caleb said as he walked away, obviously distraught over Jenelle.  
  
"Bryan, Bryan!"  
"Yes? I am busy right now, but what do you need?"  
"You wanted to see me?"  
"Yes, Since the Diamonds have advanced sensors, and our best suit is no longer feeling quite whole-"  
"You want me to search for survivors and stuff, correct?" Caleb cut in.  
"Precisely, and I want you to keep a special eye out for Stephanie, alright?"  
"Sure...." was all a reply Bryan received.  
  
"S-s-so what happened t-t-t-to you and Caleb?" Jenelle struggled to ask.  
"Not right now, another time, when you're better, perhaps." Jesse said, squeezing her hand reassuringly.  
  
"Dum-tee-dum, now, where did every body go?" Stepping aside from a pile of debris, T.J. finally saw a suit standing in the sun. He immediately recognized it as Bryan's suit.  
"Bryan, T.J. here, the EXPLOSIVES ARE SET AND READY TO GO BOOOOOM! Here's are the BOOM controllers. The EXPLOSION is going to be HUGE!!! HA HA HA!"  
"Great. We're moving out at eighteen hundred, so be ready!"  
"Heh heh, cool, he he, BOOM BABY BOOM!! Heh Heh."  
  
SCANNING....  
SCANNING....  
OGANIC FORM FOUND.... FORM DECEASED  
SCANNING....  
SCANNING....  
SCANNING....  
SCANNING....  
SCANNING....  
LIFE FORM FOUND. LEFT, UNDER DEBRIS. BARELY ALIVE. NEEDS MEDICLE ATTENTION.  
"Great, I found some one. Bryan, this is Caleb, I hate to bother you, but I found some body, scanner says she needs immediate medical attention. Requesting another suit with extra space."  
Static.  
"Bryan?"  
Static.  
"Caleb to Jesse, you there?"  
Static.  
"Hmmm, that's odd, maybe there are some residual effects of that beam that are messing up my Comm, but they worked when we arrived, after the beam...hmmm."  
Walking over to where the body lay, Caleb hopped out of his suit and ran to it. Moving fairly large chunks of cement and asphalt, Caleb uncovered it. To his astonishment, the body was Stephanie! Gently picking her up, he carried her over to before his suit.  
"Hell's Dagger, Command-bend over, extend arm down, open hand, palm up, set on ground."  
After a few seconds, the humongous suit bent forward and rested it's hand on the ground. Quickly walking over to the hand, Caleb nimbly placed Stephanie in the palm.  
"Hell's Dagger, extend hoist, security code clearance Caleb."  
An automated voice responded, VOICEPRINT RECOGNIZED, LOWERING HOIST.  
Upon stepping on the triangle with one of his feet, Caleb pressed a button on the triangle in which he hung onto to ride up to his cockpit. Climbing in, he shut down backup systems he used with the voice command, and powered his suit up. Standing now, Caleb walked his suit back to where the regimen was standing guard. Glancing at the chronometer, he saw that it was 1755 hundred, almost time to leave.  
  
"General, I have an injured soldier, she needs medical attention."  
"Tiffany, get a cot."  
"Yes sir!" Tiffany rarely went on missions, excepting other work back at the base.  
Setting the cot beside the one in which was placed a bandaged Jenelle, Caleb nimbly walked into the tent carrying Stephanie in his arms. He set her down gently and winced as a shot of pain ran through his side.  
"Jesse, get you suit ready, I want to scout out a base camp so we can blow this place sky high."  
"Did somebody say blow this place SKY high? FROM WHAT I"VE SET, THERE'LL BE NOTHING LEFT TO GO SKY HIGH!!! Ha ha ha!" Cackled T.J., who no matter where he is always hears key words linked to explosives.  
  
"How's Jenelle?" Caleb asked in a concerned tone.  
"Hurting, but fine. Tiffany says she'll make a full recovery within the month. Most of her injuries are just burns." Caleb could detect a hint of guilt in his best friend's voice.  
"Hey, it wasn't your fault, we just got there when she went down. Be glad that the beam didn't do anything else."  
Now several kilometers out of the overtaken base, the forest was getting thicker by the meter, making more difficult to move. At one point, Caleb pulled out one of his jagged daggers and started to cut a narrow path for his and Jesse's suit.  
"You look like you can handle this on your own, our sensors aren't detecting anything. What is it that you wanted to talk about?" Jesse read Caleb like a book.  
"I see you're not putting all your attention on Jenelle." Caleb smirked. He continued, "Well, I don't really know how to say this without looking like a fool-"  
"Common, out with it boy."  
"Fine then, You know Andrea back at the base?"  
"Yeah, the one who obviously can't keep her eye's off of you?"  
"That's the one."  
"What about her?" Jesse urged.  
"I'm going to ask her to dinner when we get back." There, he got it out.  
"Hey hey, the one who refused to date now is." Jesse teased.  
"Sc-static-one, commun-static-are bre-down. Possible-static-ene-"  
"Base, this is Hell's Dagger, please repeat message. I repeat, this is Hell's Dagger, please repeat message."  
No response.  
"Base-"  
"Comm.'s down, give up on trying to reach them. I dunno about you, but I'm heading back, the ene isn't any part of our code."  
Looking toward the Enclave, Caleb watched as the thrusters on it's back power up and fire a blue flame from it's vents, launching the advanced suit into the sky.   
  
Sighing heavily, Caleb continued on until the ground started to rumble. Turning back to the base, he saw many flashes of light above it, like a raging battle was going on. Unable to keep calm, he smashed the button to the thrusters, cracking it and the panel around it.  
Soaring far and fast, Caleb failed to notice the obvious trail he and Jesse had cut through the forest. Nearing the battlefield, the concussions of missiles and exploding bullets started to rock the Hell's Dagger slightly.  
When he landed, he noticed that everybody was gone, except Jesse and two other suits. One of them was a Heavy Scout; the other was-Caleb gasped. "It can't be", he thought for what he saw was another Diamond suit, modeled slightly like the Enclave with the exception of no wings and a small Uzi like gun.  
There it and Jesse stood, two monuments of technological expertise. Caleb couldn't believe his eyes. His own creation and another, but from where? Why? The thought hit him like a brick wall-Aaron. When he stole the Lithium, he must've copied the plans, the Diamond Pilots were allowed to view all the plans, he must have copied them!!  
"Aaron, you BASTARD!! You may be dead, but I won't rest until I fix YOUR mistake!" Caleb screamed.  



	10. Who's Going to Win?

Grasping the handle to the crooked dagger, Caleb waited for the right moment to pounce. No body made a move, not Jesse, not Caleb, nor the other two suits.  
"Jesse, where is everybody?"  
No response.  
"Jesse, I know you can hear me, I said-"  
"I KNOW WHAT YOU SAID!" Jesse screamed. "A few got away, the others, the others..." Jesse cringed.  
Caleb didn't need Jesse to tell him what happened, for once Caleb looked around, and he saw suits with the emblem of the Falcon lying around...in pieces.  
A tear welled up in one of his eyes for those who had faithfully followed him, and he abandoned them to die.  
"Unidentified Diamond Suit, state your name, real or code, I don't care."  
In a quiet tone, there was a cold reply, "My code name is Reaper, my real name is Robert."  
"Robert, war is war, and in war people die, like those we have killed today. But today, I'll take one more life..."  
"Oh? And I don't suppose that life will be mine own?"  
Unable to hide the angered sorrow in his voice, Caleb replied with a solitary "Yes."  
  
Sitting there listening to the exchanging of words, Jesse has never seen this side of Caleb before. Jesse himself on the brink of rage was glad that the first to be evacuated were Jenelle and Stephanie. Bryan barely made it out, T.J. went back down to fix some explosives, and two other suits got out, the rest were destroyed.  
It happened too fast. As soon as he took off, he could see the Med. trucks moving away. Jesse figured that the trucks were from the base. As he got closer, he saw a suit moving fast, too fast. In a few short seconds, most everybody was dead. Jesse was helpless to do anything.  
Unable to control his rage, Jesse jumped at the Diamond suit in front of him. The pilot, Robert, was quick. He caught the Enclave with both of its hands. With his thrusters to full, the other suit was sliding backwards.  
  
Opening his eyes, Jesse rubbed his head. He looked at the screens to see that Caleb was in a fierce battle with the Reaper. With one foot directly on top of him, there was the heavy scout, obviously watching the battle raging right in front of them.  
  
Sitting up, Jenelle couldn't see through the trees to the base. The concussions of Bryan's suit running was making her head throb.  
"Driver, where are we headed?" She shouted.  
"I don't know, the General told me to drive, and I'm driving. We have an escort, the General, Wren, and Sussenguth."  
Picking up the spare headset, Jenelle plugged it in and asked the General, "Where are we headed?"  
"We're going to the allied border. There we can get help."  
"Anyone else make it out?"  
He hesitated.  
"General?"  
"No, no one else made it out alive. My top priority is to get the few survivors out of there and into safety, that's why I'm with you."  
"Oh." she replied, distraught over the death of her comrades. Frustrated about the fact that she doesn't have a suit didn't help her mood any. The truck hit a bump, and Jenelle cringed for the burns were starting to hurt again.  
  
"Honestly, do you think that you can defeat me? Ha, his is mere child's play, kid."  
"Good, I'm just getting warmed up." Caleb sneered.  
CLICK CLICK CLICK  
Hearing the hammer hit empty air, Caleb took the chance and grabbed the right arm, the arm with the empty Uzi. Applying extra power to the hand, Caleb started to crush the arm.  
Reacting quickly, Robert started to beat the Hell's Dagger's arm, only to be stopped by his other arm. Now deadlocked in an embrace, the Reaper's arm was slowly losing power.  
Just as the armor started to bend in, the Hell's Dagger jerked forward, almost losing it's balance. Robert took the distraction and played it to his advantage by lifting the Hell's Dagger into the air and throwing it into a nearby building.  
"Thanks Jaime."  
"Your welc-ahhhggg"  
Robert looked over to see the tip of a beam sword withdraw from the drive mechanism in the waist.  
"JAMI, NOOOO!" Robert screamed as the heavy scout dropped revealing the Enclave starting to stand up.  
"Your going to pay for your interference, you bastard."  
"Not if I have anything to do with it." Jesse replied.  
Looking to his left, where the Hell's Dagger should've been, Robert made a surprise attack on the Enclave. From a well-disguised sheath on his back shot a long pole.   
Watching the rushing Reaper, Jesse braced himself for a body slam. But instead of body slamming him, the Reaper snatched the flying pole out of the air and made a swing for the upper half of the Enclave.  
Jesse blocked it with one arm, but Robert used the other end to catch the Enclave behind the knee joint and tripped him. With his free hand, Jesse grabbed the Reaper by the neck and pulled it down with him.  
Landing with a big thud, Jesse held onto the Reaper with a death like hold.  
"Let go of me!" Robert demanded.  
"No!" Jesse yelled.  
Sitting there trying to move, Robert ran through his mind his options, gun, pole, jets, vulcans, or just beating the Enclave into submission. Just as he was deciding, he was lifted off of the ground.  
"No, the Enclave doesn't have that much power!" Robert exclaimed.  
"No, but the Hell's Dagger does." Said Jesse, smirking.  
Lifting the suit above its head, Caleb grabbed it by one leg and dropped the suit. Grabbing the other leg with his free hand, Caleb started to spin.  
WARNING, GRAVATONAL FORCES WILL   
EXCEED STRUCTURAL INTEGRATY.  
  
Watching the Reaper sail through the air, Caleb kept a careful aim on it, never letting it out of his sight. Finger on the trigger, Caleb almost fired, but it was too late, the Reaper hit the ground and slid to a rough stop. Pushing itself up onto its hands and knees, Caleb and Jesse could tell that Robert wasn't feeling well.  
Lifting a foot to brace underneath itself, the Reaper stood up as if it was an old man. The head turned, slightly, and looked at Caleb who had the beam cannon trained on him.  
"You're not going to pull the trigger, you're too much of a chicken." Taunted Robert.  
"Fire!" Urged Jesse.  
"Like I said, he's too much of a chicken." Turned fully to the Hell's Dagger and the Enclave, the Reaper took an unsteady step towards them.  
"Cluck, Muther Fucker." Caleb said evenly as he let loose the humongus green beam.  



	11. The Sacrafice

Ripping through the air, the beam very powerful yet slow caught the right shoulder to the Reaper, sending it spinning through the air.  
Still spinning, Robert tried to activate the thrusters to straighten himself out. They wouldn't ignite. Before Robert could do anything, the Reaper hit the ground on its back. Grinding to a halt, he was momentarily dazed.  
  
"Aw, it didn't even bounce." Commented Jesse.  
Scopes still on the Reaper, Caleb waited for any signs that it was still functional.  
"Look at that, isn't even movin'." Jesse said lightly.  
"It's still functional," Caleb said, voice showing no emotions as he pointed to the moving arm of the Reaper.  
  
System by system, the Reaper came back to life, life support, main computers, sensors, motor functions. Lights and panels across the cockpit were flashing or showing red. A few went to green or yellow after initial repair systems had kicked in.  
Right arm gone, the Reaper had only one arm to get itself up. Lifting its arm and placing the palm on the ground, Robert transferred all available power to the motors. Pushing hard, it got to its knees. Then dragging it's right leg forward, it was able to plant the right foot firmly on the ground, looking like it was bowing - bowing to a superior fighter.  
Slowly, unsteadily, and creaking all the way, the giant stood up. In the cockpit, the control panels read low power levels. Looking to his right, searching for some controls, Robert finally noticed for the first time that light from the setting sun was peeking into his cockpit.  
  
"Robert, if you abandon your suit, I will let you go with your life."  
"WHAT?!?" Jesse exclaimed, "Let him go, after all this? You gotta-"  
"IF he leaves his cockpit," Caleb emphasized the IF, "plus a suit is only half of a weapon without a pilot. If we can get a hold of that suit, they'll be set back for months, thus weakening the enemy's army for a short time. Plus, the computers might have some information we need about enemy movements"  
"You must be foolish to let me go. I still have the plans for this suit, and your suit, and his suit too. I can come back with a better suit!" Robert sneered. "I will destroy you!"  
"YOU'RE IN NO POSITION RIGHT NOW TO BE THREATENING ANYONE!" Caleb yelled at Robert. "First off, I can finish you off either with this," he gestured to the cannon in his hands, "or I can whittle you down with my daggers."  
"I still can destroy you now, I have yet to use my trump card!"  
At that, Jesse was about to attack when Caleb grabbed the Enclave in mid stride, spun around once and launched it into the air.  
"What did you do that for?!?" Jesse asked, astonished at his friend's boldness.  
"The only way I can save at least someone, for I didn't follow you back, I-I could've saved our soldiers." Caleb choked down a sob.  
  
The last thing Jesse saw of his friend was his suit wrestling the Reaper to the ground before it self-destructed. Finally regaining control of his suit, Jesse circled around to watch as the suits exploded.  
"He, he sacrificed himself for me." Was all Jesse could muster.  
  
SEVERAL DAYS LATER AT CALEB'S FUNERAL  
  
"Are you Andrea?"  
"Yes, wh-why?"  
"After the explosion, I found a capsule with this box in it, your name's scratched into the top of it."  
"Who's it-" She was stopped by Jesse placing a finger on her lips.  
"Open it and find out."  
Giving Jesse a grateful look, she ran to her car, hit the auto tint, and opened the box. A holo of the back of someone flickered into view.  
"Andrea, my sweet. If you are watching this, then I have faced the end." As the figure slowly turning to face the viewer, Andrea recognized him as Caleb. "If I could change one thing in my past before I died, it would be to be with you. You are a very beautiful young woman, one that I have fallen in love with." A tear rolled down his cheek. "Now that I am gone I cannot help but feel that I had wasted my life. I ask that you don't do the same thing. Good bye my love." As the holo faded, one last tear was seen rolling down his cheek.  
  
Back at Jesse's place, he and Jenelle just walked in. Jenelle immediately went to the bedroom to lay down for a while. Walking into the living room, Jesse couldn't help but feel that something was out of place. Sitting on the couch, he realized that there was a jagged dagger on a stand on his coffee table. Picking it up from its stand, Jesse studied it closely. Turning it over, he noticed some writing engraved into the base of the blade,  
DAGGER OF HELL  



End file.
